Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories you can read advanced chapters in my patreon page: patreon.com/Samael61
Her Eternal Excellency, a Genshin Impact and ASOIAF crossover, Raiden Ei Reborn as Argella Durrandon, is 15 chapters ahead
DCU:Blacklist, a Raymond Reddington inspired OC SI using his knowledge for his own advantage, as well as the rest of the world, is 15 chapters ahead,
Geek's Guide to Thriving in a Low End Fantasy World, a Robert Baratheon OC SI in an AU, is 15 chapters ahead,
Commander Shepard, The Greatest to Ever Live, a Mass Effect story where Shepard is greater than ever, is 15 chapters ahead,
Loki: The God of Magic , an OC-SI into Loki who is not aware of the MCU, is 4 chapters ahead.
By supporting me, you can read advanced and special chapters, as well as vote on how you want the fanfiction to proceed.
Note: Apple store payments will be refunded, because of the company's 75 day hold policy.
—
King's Landing
Red Keep
"I challenge you to a duel then!" Prince Daeron slammed his fist on the table. Robert Baratheon was putting his legs on, sneering at the larger man, who didn't seem impressed at all.
Lord Wyman wondered how things had come to this point. He and Lord Robert negotiated, the man agreeing to have the money in installments of five hundred thousand gold every six months. However, he had demanded another five hundred thousand, citing the loss of interest he would face by withdrawing gold from the Iron Bank.
They were negotiating on the interest he wanted when Prince Daeron interjected, saying they shouldn't be paying him anything at all, accusing him of starting the rumors in the first place. Robert Baratheon responded by calling Prince Daeron "a sore loser because his betrothed preferred a real man rather than a girly prince."
Things deteriorated quickly after that, each man throwing insults back at the other.
"No." Robert said, crossing his arms. He had nothing to gain from dueling the idiot before him, save perhaps the joy he would get from it.
"Then you won't get a single coin!" Prince Daeron shouted, as if he had any say in the matter.
Really, inbreeding was strong with this one.
"The coin is for the King to give, not you, and if you think I won't be able to get what is mine, then by all means, don't keep to the agreement." Robert put his feet down, leaning across the table to glare at the prince.
Really, he would just rob the treasury if they didn't give him his money.
Kingsguard in the room, Barristan and Jonothor, sent to make sure Prince Daeron didn't do anything, tensed as the prince and Robert Baratheon looked a hair's breadth away from a fight.
"My Prince, King Rhaegar's orders were quite clear." Ser Barristan reminded the Prince, hoping to dissuade the man from pushing it any further.
"Not unless this coward agrees to a duel." Daeron wasn't going to let Robert Baratheon get away with humiliating his family any longer.
"Go and try to goad a child into a fight; maybe you can succeed then." Robert dismissed the Prince, sitting back down. If the Targaryen thought he could taunt him so easily, he had another thing coming.
"Lord Wyman, I won't be negotiating on the interest due to his actions; as such, I want five hundred thousand gold dragons every year for six years, totaling three million gold, with the first installment paid by the end of this month." Robert was honest in negotiating the amount, but the princeling soured his mood.
"Very well, Lord Robert. Where should we send the gold?" Lord Wyman said, giving up, knowing well Prince Daeron's threats were a legitimate reason to cease negotiating.
"Send it to Storm's End for now; I'll take it from there." As it would be a while before he could build a place to store his gold, sending it to Braavos and then bringing it back for payments would be a loss of time and gold, especially with the fees.
Lord Wyman nodded, and Robert offered his hand to seal the deal.
He left the fuming prince in the room, snickering as he walked past.
—
"I should go and find Davos to give him the good news." Robert thought, heading to leave the Red Keep. He saw a commotion near the gate, as the guards were stopping someone from entering.
Upon closer inspection, the man stalled at the gate turned out to be Ser Davos. He increased his pace and grasped the shoulders of the two guards rather forcefully, scaring the men.
"Now, now. That is no way to treat a man working for me, unless you have a death wish. Well, do you?" Robert asked the man, his innocent smile sending shivers down their spine.
"We are sorry, my lord; we didn't know he was your man." One of the guards nervously apologized.
"It's all good, as long as it doesn't happen again. Come on, Ser Davos, I was going to find you anyway." He released the guards, gesturing to the man to follow him.
"Yes, my lord." Davos complied, slipping through between the guards and speed-walking next to Robert.
"So what happened?" Robert asked, knowing the man wouldn't come to him unless it was important.
"My lord, I have spoken with some of the smugglers I know and relayed your offer, at least to those who won't sail away with the cargo or with the profits. They think your offer is too good to be true and are reluctant to join."
"No matter, we have old captains joining us; we can use their experience to train sailors and then put them in a fleet headed by an experienced captain." Smugglers were a long shot anyway, but a man or two like Davos would have been excellent additions to his fleets.
"Understood, my lord. On better news, I have arranged the shipments of the materials you bought. The captains should start arriving in six months from now on at the settlement. Have you thought of a name yet?" Davos asked, as the city had yet to be named.
Robert had thought long on this matter, not because he didn't have any idea, but because there were too many options.
From the myths of Earth to fictional universes like Lord of the Rings, Marvel and DC, Harry Potter, and Star Wars, there were too many names he could choose.
"I have. It will be named Asgard, after the golden realm of the gods in a dead religion." Robert didn't want to go into detail about how it was from another world, so he just chose to say the relevant part.
"A fine name, my lord." Davos said, liking the way it rolled on the tongue.
"Ah, before I forget. You would be happy to know our capital has doubled, as King Rhaegar has seen fit to give me three million gold dragons as a show of his appreciation for my actions." Robert said, as if he had not extorted the king.
"That is great news, my lord. With that amount the city could be built in no time." Davos said, impressed. One did not get that much gold as a gift for their actions every day.
"I know, right. Now, I need to go and do a survey of the land and draw plans for a city. In the meantime you will continue as we planned, and I will send a messenger for you when it is time to start the construction." Robert had read about the land beforehand but didn't have the chance to see it yet.
From the records, the territory was a forest and relatively flat compared to the mountainous areas of the Stormlands, with a coastline perfect for a port city.
As soon as he was done with the plans, Davos would bring in the necessary manpower to build a temporary settlement, and they would start to clean out the area after that.
Then the true construction would start, with sawmills and loggers to cut down the forest and use the trees as building materials.
Of course, Robert wasn't going to cut down the entire forest; instead, he was going to design a city in harmony with nature, as much as he could anyway.
"Yes, my lord. Is there anything else?" Davos asked, ready to get back to work.
There was much to do after all.
"No, there isn't; you can go." Robert dismissed his faithful minion.
The smuggler turned knight left with a bow, and Robert went to say goodbye to family and friends.
By noon he was off, heading to build his Asgard.
It was night when Robert arrived at the now named land of—since he chose Asgard as the name of the city, he might as well continue with it—ready to plant the seed of his ambitions.
Tomorrow, of course.
—
For the next month Robert drew the plans for the city, separated into industrial, market, housing, and recreational districts, with the administrative center in the middle, which would include his keep, Valhalla, and the most important part of his city in his opinion, an R&D department.
The reason he needed an R&D department was simple. He had the knowledge, but that knowledge had been the culmination of centuries of research and experimentation; as such, he didn't know everything, just like no other person could.
For example, while he knew you needed saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur to make gunpowder, he didn't know in which percentages to mix them to obtain the best possible product or that you need to mix two alternating types of steel to get the swirly pattern on Damascus steel, but not the finer details.
Another reason was to create a place of learning that will innovate and create long after he is gone, advancing the scientific knowledge and technology level of this world, seeing as it has been stagnating for eight thousand years.
While designing Asgard, he had taken the lay of the land into consideration, making sure the housing district had access to the water sources first and the industrial district had it last.
And the sewage system, of course, as he did not want his city to stink like King's Landing did.
Now, all he had to do was to send a message to Davos.
—
Robert watched as Davos' ship, Sweet Mary, was being chased.
By a pirate ship.
Which should be impossible due to the relatively short distance between the Stormlands and the Crownlands, meaning any pirate who had the moronic idea of attacking a ship on this side of Westeros would quickly find themselves at the gallows.
He would find out how they managed it later; now he just needed to deal with them.
Upon seeing three adult dragons flying towards them, the pirate ship—Ironborn, apparently—panicked. Arrows and bolts did nothing, and against their captains' orders, some of them jumped as the dragons dived, not wanting to die a fiery death.
Pulling up at the last second, Robert decided against burning the ship.
It could be used for other purposes.
Instead, he took his hammer and hovered over the ship and leaped, targeting the largest pirate on the deck.
The said pirate turned to run but was too late, as Robert brought his hammer right on his skull, crushing it like a rotten watermelon and carving the man in half through sheer brute force.
Robert raised his blood-covered head, watching the terrified pirates. Rushing forward like a bull, he smashed the head of another pirate to a bloody mess before they could react.
Another raider tried to pull his sword to attack, but Robert smashed his knee, eliciting a deafening scream, before the Father of the Dragons smashed his face in and silenced him.
Smashing a sword attempting to strike him aside, Robert took a couple steps back as the rest of the pirates thought it would be better to rush him all together.
Robert whistled and then held on for dear life as Obelisk answered, perching on the side of the ship, which naturally began to tip the ship over.
Pirates, terrified and unprepared, began to slide, trying to find anything to hold onto, with some barely hanging on the rails.
"Volā!" ordered Robert, and the blue dragon immediately took off with a gust of wind while the ship righted itself, tilting like a bobo doll before stabilizing.
Robert didn't wait for the ship to stop before targeting the pirates hanging on the side of the ship, playing whack-a-mole with the raiders.
He watched as the last pirate decided being on the ship was a bad idea and turned to jump before Robert caught him by the face, slamming his head on the deck a couple of times.
He needed someone to interrogate after all.